January 14 – Today in Music History

1936 Clarence Carter born in Montgomery, Alabama. Blind US Singer/Guitarist, (1970 US No.4 & UK No.2 single ‘Patches’). 1937 Billie Jo Spears born in Beaumont, Texas. US female country music singer, (1975 UK No.6 single ‘Blanket On The Ground’). In later years, she made her home in Vidor, Texas, near her hometown of Beaumont, where she died of cancer on December 14, 2011, at age 741938 Allen Toussaint born in Gert Town, Louisiana. US singer/songwriter/producer/arranger. He produced and wrote songs like ‘Java” – Al Hirt, ‘Southern Nights’ – Glen Campbell, ‘Working In A Coalmine” – Lee Dorsey. Toussaint died in the early hours of November 10, 2015, in Madrid, Spain, while on tour. Following a concert at the Teatro Lara on Calle Corredera Baja de San Pablo, he had a heart attack at his hotel and was pronounced dead on his arrival at hospital. He was 77. 1948 Tim Harris born in London, England. Drummer with The Foundations, (1967 UK No.1 single ‘Baby Now That I’ve Found You’, 1969 US No.3 single ‘Build Me Up A Buttercup’). Tim Harris died in 2007.1956 Bob Bradbury – UK Singer and Songwriter with Hello, (1974 UK No.6 single ‘Tell Him’). 1959 Chas Smash born in Cathal Smythe, England. Horns/Trumpet player with Madness, (1982 UK No.1 single ‘House Of Fun’ plus over 20 other UK Top 40 hits). 1961 Elvis Presley’s’ ‘GI Blues’ started a seven-week run at No.1 on the UK chart. Also on this day Elvis was promoted to Acting-Sergeant in the US Army, receiving a pay increase of $22.94 per month. 1962 Patricia Morrison, Gun Club, Sisters Of Mercy, (1992 UK No.3 single ‘Temple Of Love’). 1963 Charlie Watts made his live debut with The Rolling Stones at The Flamingo Jazz Club, Soho, London. 1964 The Beatles (minus Ringo Starr, who was fog-bound in Liverpool) departed from Liverpool for Paris, France for an 18-day run at the Olympia Theatre. Arriving in Paris, John, Paul, and George were met by 60 fans. Ringo, accompanied by roadie Neil Aspinall, arrived the next day. 1965 Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Yeh Yeh.’ 1966 David Jones changes his name to David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones from the Monkees, just in time for the release of his single, ‘Can’t Help Thinking About Me’. He would later say that he chose “Bowie” because he liked that “big American bear-killin’ knife.” 1967 Cliff Richard told the music paper the NME that he was retiring from show business to teach religious education in schools. 1967 Over 25,000 people attend The Human Be-In-A Gathering Of The Tribes at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The event was a forerunner of major, outdoor rock concerts and featured The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother And The Holding Company. 1968 James Todd Smith born in Long Island, New York. (L.L. Cool J), 1987 UK No.8 single ‘I Need Love’. 1969 Dave Grohl born in Ohio. US Musician/Singer. Drums with Nirvana, (1991 UK No.7 & 1992 US No.6 single Smells Like Teen Spirit’ from the 1991 album ‘Nevermind’ spent over 2 years on the UK chart & made US No.1 album chart in 1992. Foo Fighters1970 Diana Ross made her last appearance with The Supremes at The Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas. 1070 At the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, The Supremes play their last concert with Diana Ross, who introduces her replacement, Jean Terrell. Ross performs with the group just once more: at the Motown 25 TV special in 1983. 1971 George Harrison went No.1 on the Australian singles chart with ‘My Sweet Lord/Isn’t It A Pity’. Staying at the top spot for 11wks. 1972 Yes played the first of two nights at the Rainbow Theatre, London. 1972 Stevie Wonder kicked off a 15-date UK tour at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. 1973 Paul Gadd (Gary Glitter) killed off his former persona Paul Raven when he lowered a coffin containing all his records into the River Thames, London. 1973 Elvis Presley’s “Aloha From Hawaii” concert is broadcast live on the Intelsat IV satellite to an estimated one billion people in forty countries around the world – but not the United States or England. The concert is released as a double album later in the year. 1974 Denise Van Outen, actress / singer, (2002 UK No. 23 single with Andy Williams, ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’). The song set a new record of the biggest age gap of a duo to have a hit: 45 years. 1978 Player started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Baby Come Back’, a No.32 hit in the UK, the groups only UK hit. 1978 The Sex Pistols played their last live gig at Winterland, San Francisco, (they re-formed in 96).http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/pages/sex_pistols1982 Caleb Followill, lead singer, rhythm guitarist, Kings of Leon, (2007 UK No.1 album ‘Because Of The Times’, 2008 UK No.1 single ‘Sex on Fire’, 2008 UK No.1 album ‘Only By The Night’). 1984 Paul McCartney was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Pipes Of Peace.’ With this release McCartney made chart history by becoming the first artist to have a No.1 in a group, (The Beatles), in a duo, (with Stevie Wonder), in a trio, (with Wings) and as a solo artist. 1984 Madonna makes her first appearance on American Bandstand. When asked by Dick Clark about her ambitions (blonde or otherwise), the singer replies: “To rule the world.” 1987 Appearing at King Georges Hall, Blackburn, Nick Kershaw on the first night of a 25 date UK tour. 1989 Bobby Brown went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘My Prerogative.’ 1989 Frankie Sandford, best known for being a member of girl group The Saturdays who scored the 2013 UK No.1 hit single ‘What About Us’ featuring Sean Paul. 1989 Compilation albums were excluded from the UK chart and were listed in the new Top 20 Compilation Albums. 1991 Vanilla Ice went No.1 on the Australian singles chart with ‘Ice Ice Baby’. Staying at the top spot for 3 wks. 1992 Jerry Nolan drummer with The New York Dolls died from a fatal stroke. The influential American band formed in 1972 and made just two albums, the 1973 ‘New York Dolls’ and 1974 ‘Too Much Too Soon’. 1993 US alternative group The Pixies announced that they had split. (Re-formed in 2004). 1994 Appearing at The Astoria 2, London, The Cranberries. 1995 Swedish performing arts collective Rednex started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Cotton Eye Joe.’ 1996 Oasis went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory’, the group’s second UK No.1 spent a total of 145 week’s on the chart. 2001 Jennifer Lopez scored her first UK No.1 single with ‘Love Don’t Cost A Thing.’ The track was taken from her album J.Lo. 2002 Enrique Iglesias went No.1 on the Australian singles chart with ‘Hero’. Staying at the top spot for 2 wks. 2003 Linda Gail Lewis the sister of Jerry Lee Lewis, dropped a claim of sex discrimination against Van Morrison. Lewis had claimed that Morrison had ‘publicly humiliated’ her on stage and had tried to ruin her life by asking her for sex. She withdrew her claim after discussions with her lawyer. Morrison denied all the allegations. 2005 A $100,000 (£58,823) statue honouring the late punk guitarist Johnny Ramone was unveiled by his widow Linda at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Johnny died from prostate cancer in September 2004 at the age of 55. Hundreds turned out for the ceremony, including Tommy Ramone the only surviving band member. Dee Dee Ramone died of a drugs overdose in 2002 and Joey died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer. 2006 American actor and stand-up comic Jamie Foxx started a two-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with his second album ‘Unpredictable.’ 2007 Amy Winehouse started a two week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Back To Black’ (which went on to become the biggest-selling album of 2007 with sales over 1.5m copies). Nas was at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Hip Hop Is Dead.’ 2010 The BBC admitted coverage of the launch of U2’s album ‘No Line On The Horizon’ in 2009 went too far – giving “undue prominence” to the band. RadioCentre, the trade body for commercial radio companies, had made a formal complaint over the coverage saying the BBC had given U2 “the sort of publicity money can’t buy”. 2010 Guitarist Jimmy Page was honored with the United Nations’ first ever Pathways To Peace Award. Pathways To Peace is an international peace building, educational and consulting organization which has consultative status with the United Nations. 2014 Justin Bieber was questioned by police over the egging of his neighbour’s house in Calabasas, California. Bieber spoke to police in relation to the incident, which saw him accused of throwing eggs at his neighbour’s house while his neighbour and neighbour’s daughter were on the balcony filming him. Billboard reports that a dozen vehicles arrived on Bieber’s property with a search warrant, looking for evidence that Bieber was involved in the incident. Det. Dave Thompson commented: “We collected evidence related to that crime. Mr. Bieber was present and cooperative. He was not arrested.” 2014 Police in Los Angeles were investigating an alleged battery incident involving rapper Kanye West after West punched a man who had targeted racist comments at his partner Kim Kardashian.